New York comedian and artist Alex Schmidt has a solo exhibition, Group Fail Pony Play, on view through October 28th at Leslie-Lohman Museum. We connected this week to talk about her Midwest roots, loving queer culture enough to satirize it, why they don’t make movies about Chicago anymore, what constitutes an actual family reunion, how breaking a horse is a metaphor for dom/sub relationships, creating IRL spaces for queer connections of all stripes from love to skillshares, her band Las Thumbelinas, pop-up dyke bars, teaching improv to diverse communities, and the upcoming event she’s co-organizing at Leslie-Lohman with Black + Pink on Thursday, October 25th. The outro music is “Willie” by Las Thumbelinas.